Chain correlation between variables of gas exchange and yield potential in different winter wheat cultivars

Variables of gas exchange of flag leaves and grain yield potentials of five representative winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivars varied greatly across different development stages under the same management and irrigation. The cultivars with high yield potential had higher net photosynthetic rate (P-N), PPFD (photosynthetic photon flux density) saturated photosynthetic rate (P-sat), stomatal conductance (g(s)), and maximum apparent quantum yield of CO2 fixation (Phi (m,app)) than those with low grain yield, but their dark respiration rate (RD) and compensation irradiance (I-c) were remarkably lower. Compared with overall increase of yield potential of 71% from low yield cultivars to high yield ones, PN, Psat, Phi (m,app), and g(s) were 13, 19, 57, and 32 % higher, respectively; but R-D and I-c decreased by 19 and 76 %, respectively. Such difference was evidently large during anthesis stage (e.g., PN by 33 %), which indicated that this period could be the best for assisting further selection for better cultivars. However, transpiration rate (E) and water use efficiency (WUE) differed only little. At different development stages, especially at anthesis, P-N and P-sat were positively correlated with Phi (m,app), g(s) and yield potential, and negatively correlated with R-D and I-c. Thus the high-yield-potential winter wheat cultivars possess many better characters in photosynthesis and associated parameters than the low-yield cultivars.